The Way Things Should Have Been
by A1NoSauce
Summary: What if Naruto had the friend in the Kyuubi at a younger age? What changes would come from it and what types of new powerups would he develop? Read as a splendid ninja is born once again. Naruto x Harem, Hinata is guaranteed, but polls will come for others. Smart/Strong Naruto.
1. A Hero is Born

**Hey guys welcome to my first fanfic on here! ^.^ I've been reading on here for a little while now and just got the really "sudden" inspiration" so I decided it was finally time to make a story and at least get it started so without further adieu.**

**By the way I don't own Naruto.**

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"It's finished." The Fourth Hokage , Minato Namikaze, of Konoha gasped as the seal array appeared on his stomach.

"**I'm sorry it had to come down to this Minato." **Came the demonic voice of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"Don't be," Minato said as he gave a strained smile, "I'm happy that my son will still have something that made his mother so powerful also protecting him." Minato said as he glanced down at his wife who had also looked like she'd seen better days.

"Kushina, now is the time to pass on our will to Naruto, I'm going to infuse some of our chakra into the seal so that we may see him again one day, but that may not be for a very long time, so we must do it now."

Said redhead began to tear up as she thought of all the memories that Naruto would have to miss out on being that they're time was rapidly running out. He would never have a father or a mother to love him like only they could, and Kushina never wanted Naruto to go through the same pain she had to being a Jinchuuriki herself until only minutes before.

"Naruto…," she began, "there's so much I wanted to show and teach you. I wanted you to grow up knowing what love is. I wanted to see you grow to become the strong man that I know one day you'll eventually become. I wanted to teach you about women and how to properly act during certain situations that may come about. Please, be safe, no drinking until you're 21, learn to eat your vegatables, because if you're anything like me you're going to want to have ramen all the time." Minato sweatdropped as he couldn't believe Kushina could actually implement a joke at a time like this, still he smiled as he saw her continue, "there's so so so much more I wanted to teach you. Minato, I'm sorry for taking up all of your time." Kushina weeped as her time grew closer.

"It's alright Kushina. Naruto… well, I agree with everything your mother said and I can't wait to meet you when you grow up, I know it will be a special sight, but I guess it's time to say goodbye for now. Take good care of him for us Kyuubi."

"**No problem Minato."** The kitsune said with conviction.

"Seal."

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Hiruzen Sarutobi was having the strings to his heart pulled as he watched two of the villages finest shinobi give their final words to their son. What was worse was that Minato erected a barrier that prevented he from doing anything but watching. It was then that a bright flash went through the clearing and when it was gone all that was left were two smiling parents and a now crying baby boy. Hiruzen walked over to the baby, picked him up and began trying his best to get him back to sleep.

"Report." He commanded to the nearby Anbu.

"There doesn't appear to be anything left here Sandaime-sama, all that's left here is…" an Anbu in a falcon mask trailed off as he glanced over at the two bodies.

"Seal them." The Third said bluntly. "Even in a time of this crisis we still have a village to get back to. Seal them and let's get back to Konoha." Hiruzen ordered as he turned away, not able to look at the sight any longer.

"Hai Sandaime-sama!" The Anbu said as he pulled out a scroll.

"As of today I believe you will be calling me Hokage-sama again. With this tragedy, I will be forced to re-take the position." The Third stated as he leaped off to Konoha.

"_Ugh, that means I have to run a council meeting on that and this…" _he thought as he stared down at what looked to be the complete reincarnate of Minato himself. Although, he also had three distinctive whiskers on each cheek.

"_Minato… forgive me if I am not able to fully watch over this child for you."_

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The council of Konoha was a system set up of both shinobis and civilians, with the shinobi side all being leaders of their respected clans. These ranged from: the Uchiha, the Hyuuga, the Inuzuka, the Aburame, and Akimichi, the Yamanaka, the Nara, the Sarutobi, and the Senju. Considering that the Hokage himself was a Sarutobi, and that the only remaining Senju alive has been gone from the village for several years, that left on the seven clan leaders on the shinobi side. The civilian council was made up of the Hokage's two trusted advisors and past teammate's Homura and Koharu, as well as another "trusted" friend Danzo Shimura. The rest of the council is made up of some of Konoha's wealthiest people and owners of much of the civilian market and land to balance out, they also have seven members(besides Danzo, Homura, and Koharu), for their side. Since Konoha was probably the highest in civilian count of all the five hidden villages, the First Hokage believed that it would be a good idea to have their own set of leaders to represent them.

"_I've never been one to question the First, but could he have been more wrong in that decision?"_ Hiruzen thought as he sat down in his chair.

"*sigh* This meeting will now commence. First off, I would like to make the motion for myself retaking the position of Hokage. Are there any here who oppose?" Hiruzen stated eying everyone in the process.

As expected nobody opposed to the motion except for Danzo, who was really more showing his dislike in the matter more than anything.

"_Stubborn."_ Was the main thought going through everyone'sheads besides Shikaku Nara who was thing more along the lines of 'troublesome.'

"Since the vote was outnumbered in a count of 17 to 1 we will now move on to the next moti-"

"Wish all due respect ,Hokage-sama," Danzo cut in, "but do you mind explaining why there is a child in a cradle next to you?" He questioned.

Ah yes, how could one not overlook that fact that a blonde-haired child now wrapped in a white towel was, currently, sleeping peacefully next to the aged Hokage.

"_Dammit," _Hiruzen thought, _" I was at least hoping to make an appeal for Naruto with the council before I had to explain his 'situation.'_

"Why that is precisely what I was going to continue on to before you interrupted me. Something, that I might add, was very crude of you." Said the reinstated Hokage.

Danzo seethed as he knew that Hiruzen was just trying to make the fool out of him before the council, but Danzo knew that he still had some power over Konoha, so he swallowed his pride.

"My most dearest apologies Hokage-sama. I assure you such insolence will not occur on my part again." Danzo stated like a true gentleman.

"_I could have almost found that believable" _The old Hokage chuckled to himself.

"Now, this child right here is Naruto." Everyone now stared at the sleeping child all wondering why they had the strange hunkering for a fishcake. "Naruto, in only his short few hours on this Earth, has already been born with a curse that will live with him for a lifetime." Now everyone, especially those of the shinobi side eyed the boy warily. What could the Hokage mean by that?

"Do not be afraid of him," Hiruzen stated as he saw the looks of all of those around him, "he is not a danger to anyone as he is right now, but there is something that you all have to know about him." The air in the room became thick with tension as everyone waited for what the Hokage would say.

"This boy… is the new container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Silence. If a hair follicle were to fall to the ground it would've been heard from all of those around until…

"WHAT?!" The whole civilian side all immediately began to scream and question how this happened.

"SILENCE!" Hiruzen boomed in a commanding tone as his voice rang through the room. "I will now explain how this all occurred. To start off, Minato Namikaze is dead." Gasps from both sides of the room could be heard, especially from the shinobi side who had served under Minato and had been dear friends and comrades with him. Hiruzen didn't bother to mention the fact that Kushina was also dead, considering many never even knew of their relationship, only those of the shinobi side would even know that they did, and they would all find out in due time.

"Minato sacrificed his life for the Konoha by sealing the Kyuubi into this child. But, do not confuse him for the Kyuubi itself, just look at him." All turned their eyes to the boy who, despite what they just heard, still looked like a normal young baby boy, with the only difference being the distinctive whiskers.

"Still Hokage-sama I don't believe that he should be allowed to live, he may just end up causing more harm than good." Stated a pink-haired woman from the civilian side named Mebuki Haruno, she was also a little larger in her stomach area than the rest of her physique showed, a clear showing that she was on her way to having a child. Several other civilian members nodded their heads in agreement with her statement.

"What an excellent person to come forward for that statement," said the Hokage with a knowing grin, while Mebuki sweatdropped, "you look like you're going to be a new mother within the next few months. How would you feel if it was your child here on the spot while people whom they didn't even know got to decide their fate. You wouldn't be too happy about that now would you?" questioned the Hokage.

Mebuki cursed herself for being put in this situation. While what he was saying was very true she still couldn't let the fact that this child had **THAT** in him go.

"But, Hokage-sama is this not some orphan who had the Kyuubi put into him?" she questioned honestly. She really had no idea who the baby belonged to, while he did bear some resemblance to the Fourth… she wasn't even aware of the Fourth even having a child so that was out of the question.

Here was where Hiruzen had to come to a crossroad. Should he tell the council how this IS in fact the Fourth's legacy? Or for the child's safety should he just keep that a secret? In the end, he decided to go with the latter.

"Yes, the boy's name is Naruto Uzumaki. His parents were civilians who died in the destruction of the Kyuubi's attack."

A few sets of eyes of the shinobi side widened ever so slightly, which did not go unnoticed by Hiruzen. _"I guess I should've expected at least some of them to know Kushina. Especially since some of the shinobi were very close to Minato."_

One of them being Hiashi Hyuuga, who looked back at the child and was even more surprised by the resemblance between the two. It was almost as if Minato had shrunk down the size of a baby.

Tsume Inuzuka also discretely nodded her head. She was getting a very familiar smell off of the boy named Naruto. His scent was almost the same as his father's, definitely showing him to be of his father's kin.

Shibi Aburame was another who took account of Naruto being the Fourth's son considering the chakra emanating off the boy was the exact same as his father's, of this he was sure. His kikai bugs could completely assure that.

Shikaku Nara was another who took notice of the boy's heritage long before anyone else. By the time the Hokage was halfway through the door he could almost swear he saw Minato in the cradle beside him. He didn't go just based off of that assumption, but when he heard that Minato sacrificed his life sealing the Kyuubi into the boy there was no doubt about it in his mind.

The Hokage smiled inwardly knowing that the boy had people who knew of his true heritage without him having to say it outright to everybody.

"As my authority as Hokage i personally am protecting Naruto from being sentenced to death," he said as he glared at the civilian side and released a small amount of killing intent. Just enough to make them want to wet their pants. "As from this day forward I will also pass a law. Anyone who mentions the Naruto holding the Kyuubi inside of him to anyone who does not already know of it will be sentenced to death immediately. Now, I would like to call an adjourn to this meeting as I do have a village to rebuild does anyone oppose?"

Nobody in their right mind would dare oppose the Hokage as he was now, he knew he had the whole room in his hands and he was taking full advantage of it. Everyone was still too stunned by the pass of the law that they weren't even about to oppose him on this.

"Nobody? Great, then I will now call this meeting to a close." Hiruzen stated while picking Naruto up and leaving the room. Everyone soon followed after until there was only a single person still left in the room.

"_The only reason I wasn't so adamant about this is because I shall enjoy turning that boy into my puppet Hiruzen."_ Danzo thought with a wicked grin as he picked up his cane and began his trek back to his secret quarters aka his whole underground ROOT installation.

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"**Hmm. It seems as though this seal is pretty tight. It will probably be a few years before I will even begin to have any type of interaction with the boy." The Kyuubi said aloud as he surveyed his surroundings. "Hn. It matters not. I'll just await the day when I can keep my promise to Minato and Kushina. Though, I will be your best friend and worst nightmare in training you kit." The Kyuubi chuckled as he went into a deep slumber.**

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**DONE. That actually felt longer than I really expected it to be. But anyway, I hope to make my usual chapters longer than this and upload at least once a week if not sooner (I know they will be more frequent when the summer comes). I will be responding to reviews (I prefer constructive criticism over of flame please?) once they start to come up. Hopefully there will be a lot! :D No? Okay. Anyway peace everyone.**

**-A1**


	2. The Group

**I'm back! (Readers give death glare) *sigh*, yes I know it's been a while and the only real excuse I can give is writer's block and plot creation because I still hadn't fully decided where I want to go with this story. Anyway, on with Chapter Two.**

**I don't own Naruto. If I did, the war wouldn't be lasting for like 9000 chapters.**

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It was another regular day in Konoha. The shopping district was full with its usual customers, people were laughing and smiling, and the whole village had the same ambience of peace that it became known for. Of course, young Naruto Uzumaki never got to experience any of the happiness and joy as he was a pariah to all of Konoha. Although, his situation wasn't completely terrible. There was at least one Anbu watching over him twenty-four seven so he never had to worry about being physically harmed, but the tongue can be mighty powerful, especially to the mind of a four year old boy. Naruto had been living with the Hokage for the first short years of his life, and as one would assume, Hiruzen kept the boy on a very short leash, and very sheltered. Naruto's only true interaction with any of the villagers are a few of the clan heads and their children who come to visit from time to time. Over the years Naruto has met quite a few characters. First there's Kiba Inuzuka, the brash, loud-mouthed, self-proclaimed "leader" who always boasts about how manly he is, although he may be irritating at times, Kiba is generally the one that Naruto gets to joke around with the most. Then there's the lazy Shikamaru Nara… there's not many ways to describe him as lazy…, although he is very intelligent for his age, as all Nara's tend to be. Unlike others, Naruto actually enjoys cloud-watching with Shikamaru, something that amazed everyone because Naruto was always rambunctious and full of energy. Since Naruto was living, and was under the tutelage of the Third Hokage he also became known be intelligent amongst his peers, although it still wasn't enough to rival a Nara, it was actually still very good. Another addition to the group is Shino. The stoic, coat wearing, bug-boy who is a boy of very few words. Both Shino's and Naruto's problems derived from the same basic theory. Everyone always stayed clear from the both of them due to what they possessed in their bodies. Even though Shino didn't know directly what the villagers saw in Naruto, he, as well as the rest of the group, always noticed the stares and whispers that would generally come from walking with Naruto. Nonetheless, Naruto had never shown any hostility towards him for his bug situation, so he deemed Naruto to be someone he could call a good friend. We come to the only female of this group: Hinata Hyuuga, Konoha's little Princess. Hinata was practically considered royalty in Konoha. Being that she was raised in a high society clan as the Hyuuga are, she always demonstrated the epitome of class, grace, and dignity that her status deems her to be. She was loved even more when people saw her always-blushed face and her minor stutter that was found to be very cute by the populace. Being that this was the first girl he'd ever had the chance to meet around is age, and being that she was very cute, they both ended up sporting large blushes upon making eye contact, before looking away of course. As time went on they were able to have full on conversations with little stuttering and rosy cheeks on Hinata's part. The final member of the group happens to be Konoha's Junior Heir to the Uchiha clan: Sasuke Uchiha. Now, many are surprised at this, including Sarutobi himself, as he never thought that the "almighty" Uchiha clan would want anything to do with the young Jinchuuriki, especially since they were still the main people who had fingers pointed at them for the incident itself. Fugaku Uchiha, Sasuke's father, hadn't really cared when he heard of their bondage, he figured that having the Kyuubi wrapped around his finger could gain him some leverage on the council, although he'd never tell anyone that. But, everyone that are lucky enough to be clan heads are intelligent enough to know this is why he would be welcomed by the Uchiha for any reason. The relationship between Naruto and Sasuke is a little rocky, whereas Sasuke is the more calm, cool go with the flow, Naruto is a little loud, and eager to be the center of attention, which can throw the young boys into a glaring match. Though, secretly they get along very well due to the presence of a certain Weasel masked ANBU: Itachi Uchiha. Itachi, along with Kakashi Hatake, Yugao Uzuki, and Tenzo, is one amongst the few ANBU who watch over the ANBU due to their complete disgust with anyone who would dare mark the child as the Kyuubi itself. They were made the only four guards to watch Naruto after a recent incident.

**-FLASHBACK-**

It was a very festive night in Konoha as all the people gathered to celebrate one of Konoha's darkest days in history, the defeat of the Kyuubi at the hands of their beloved Yondaime Hokage: Minato Namikaze. On this very October 10 everyone was having a fun night enjoying themselves including Hiruzen Sarutobi who was looking over the village from the balcony of the Hokage tower while smoking on his famed pipe. It was then that Hiruzen got a very strange feeling that something had just gone wrong. That coupled with the fact that several specific words were now being chanted throughout the crowd.  
"Demon!"

"Get him! That's the one!"

"Tonight, we finish what the Yondaime started!"

A chorus of 'Hoorahs' went through the crowd at that specific thought.

'Naruto-kun…" thought the old Hokage before he disappeared in a shunshin.

- With Naruto-

Naruto was having a pretty decent night with all of his friends, enjoying all of the sights around him. The smells of freshly grilled foods, the laughing and cheer surrounding him, and the random firework that would light up the sky. His only complaint was that he had to wear a hoodie on a night that was a little humid, but if he meant he could have fun by his friends side then he would deal with it. AS it was, he was too busy joking with Kiba to be preoccupied with these thoughts. All was well until a particularly drunk civilian bumped into Naruto, knocking the hood off his head.

"Wh-ops my bad *hiccup* sor-" he stopped when he realized who he was looking at. "Wait… Y-You're him! The Demon! Hey! He's here!" he screamed in panic.

The next few seconds were greeted by an eerie silence, followed by every single civilian in the vicinity focusing their attention to the now visible blonde-haired boy. The tension was thick in the air, but that all ended with one shout.

"DEMON!"

Everyone now rushed the young blonde boy in herds, however all of the clan heads warned their children beforehand not to stray too far away, which is why at that very moment, five blurs whizzed by the children and began to start knocking out all of the violent civilians. Whether it be a chop to the neck, a quick disabling Jyuuken strike, chakra drainage from bugs, or looking into a pair of Sharingan eyes, every method was used by the five clan heads to protect their children and their friends. Though the clan heads are respectfully the strongest in their clan, even they can't handle a whole mass of civilians with anti-Naruto Shinobi in them. A masked ANBU then appeared and threw a few shuriken flew past the clan heads that headed straight for Naruto and Sasuke, who jumped in front of Naruto after the initial assault, it was then that another person appeared in front of Sasuke and quickly caught all of the shuriken in their hands. This person was none other than Itachi Uchiha, the other son of Fugaku Uchiha and Senior heir of the Uchiha Clan.

"I must admire your bravery Sasuke-kun, but please from here on let us deal with this." Itachi said as he turned to look at Sasuke, although he almost held his mouth agape as he looked into Sasuke's new blood red Sharingan eyes with one tomoe in each of them. 'So he reaches his potential when protecting those he cares about hm?' thought Itachi, 'I'm glad you found people you care about Sasuke, you may be the one to break the curse' Itachi thought with a smile as three other figures appeared next to him.

"Well Itachi, if you're finally done gawking we can get started," joked Kakashi as he appeared next to him, Yugao and Tenzo bit back a laugh as the usually-stoic Uchiha glared at Kakashi.

"Hn. Fine." They all then began to disable the populace before them.

Suddenly, a larger plume of smoke appeared amidst all the chaos,

"ENOUGH!" The now-thunderous voice of the Hokage boomed, "this has gone on long enough and I refuse to see this village fall so low as to attack children! Are you all mad?!" The villagers all began to look somber at the fact that they were being berated by their own Kage. "This type of foolishness needs to end, or we as a whole village will not be able to prosper even on days like these where our sole purpose is to celebrate, look at what you've all done."

It was true, if one looked around the area there were a few shops that were damaged due to the scuffle, or being hit by a stray kunai or shuriken, although the damage was fairly minimal and concentrated in that one area, the fact that it was caused by the villagers themselves and for such a idiotic reason stood to make the Hokage really question the future of the village after his time finally comes. Would the village be stuck with generations that hate the next Jinchuuriki and the one after that? He really hoped not. All of this came to mind as he said what came next.

"What part are all of you not understanding? You attack this young, harmless boy for something that he has inside of him, while he protects you all! What would happen if the Kyuubi wasn't contained in him? Would it not be free to attack this village at some other given point in time? Would you rather see him die so that the Kyuubi would manifest itself within a few years?" This stunned most of the populace, while it was true that they understood some of this, they were still blinded by their hatred of the Kyuubi. Whether it be due to the lost of loved ones, homes, or businesses destroyed in the destruction, they just couldn't see past that hate to see the real truth. Although, with Hiruzen now enlightening them again, some of the populace began to walk away, as they now had a lot to think about. Would they get over this and move on to a new day? Or, would they continue to hate just because they might be seen as a supporter by their peers? The strong had already come to their decision, while some of the civilians just decided to write it off, but there were still a portion of the villagers who resent the boy, even if they could see the truth in their Hokage's words. These were the ones who decided they would still try to make the boy miserable in any way they could that wasn't physically harming him, they didn't care, it was still a detriment to the boy so they were satisfied. Everyone either continued to celebrate, or began a trek towards their home, still in deep thought about the night's events.

"I hope all of you now see the dangers of being with Naruto." Stated Hiashi Hyuuga as he walked up to the kids, "this may not be a daily occurrence, but just being with Naruto will hurt all of your social statures in the eyes of the public as well as lower the respect that the public have for you. Are you all willing to give this up for Naruto?" The elder Hyuuga gave a long look into each of their eyes, looking for any doubt in their convictions, and to his gratification, there was none.

"Who Naruto? This is one of my best friends! I'll always have his back." Stated the young canine boy.

"Indeed. Naruto has never shown any prejudice towards me so I will not turn my back on him." Stated the coat wearing boy.

"It would be very troublesome at this point to sever the ties I have made with Naruto." Said the lazy boy.

"I-I couldn't be w-without N-Naruto-kun at this point." whispered the shy, lavender-eyed girl.

"Even though we have our bouts I can assure you that my life would be very different without Naruto in it." Stated the duck-butt hair Uchiha.

Naruto's heart swelled at the conviction at which his friends all stated this, he started to shed tears of joy as his smile was wide enough to light up the sky, he gave all of the guys a bro-hug, while Hinata got a particularly long hug from him, causing her to blush the shade of a tomato and promptly pass out, eliciting laughter from all of those around except Naruto who still didn't have a clue as to why that would continue to happen. Boy, if only Naruto knew.

"These will be rough days young ones, but rest assured that I, as the Hokage, will see more to these problems directly. No longer will these acts of violence go unnoticed by me. I am going to look into some more archives first, so I will let you all know when this becomes official." Sarutobi said towards the clan heads. A chorus of 'yes sir!' came from the group.

"Well, it's very late and I think all of you should be going now wouldn't you?" Hiruzen said to the kids. It was true, they were all still very young to be out at this time of night, even if it was where all eyes could see them.

"Yes, but guys," Sasuke said as he turned toward the group, "I want us all to meet at the park tomorrow at around nine alright?" said Sasuke seriously.

All of the kids furrowed their brows in confusion, but agreed nonetheless. What could Sasuke possibly have in store for them? I guess they'd just have to see tomorrow for themselves.

**-FLASHBACK END-**

"Who would've ever thought that Sasuke was going to try to start a training regimen for us?" asked Hinata, stutter free.

"I had no idea something like that was what he had in mind." Naruto said as they were both resting from the previous training session.

"Hey you two, are we gonna get back to training or what? I thought you had something to prove Naruto-kun?" said Itachi was he appeared next to them via shunshin.

"Sure sure, we were just taking a break is all. C'mon Hinata."

"Right Naruto-kun" replied Hinata, 'I wonder if you notice how much stronger you're getting from these training sessions Naruto-kun… I have no doubt that you'd be able to protect yourself, but…. I still want to be here to protect you.'

They both held on to Itachi and shunshinned to Training Ground 3 for another session.

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**Another Chapter done :D It only took around two months? *rubs back of head sheepishly* I'm actually going to start putting a lot more time into writing, especially since I've been cleared to work one less day a week. I should post sometime this week, hopefully, see you all soon! This is just another Introduction chapter. Some real action should be coming the chapter after next.**

**Oh, and REVIEW!**

**-A1**


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